COLUMBIA -- Holding a veto threat in one hand, Gov. Henry McMaster pitched a new idea with the other Tuesday on how to pay for road and bridge repairs without raising the gas tax -- use the money from a bond bill that had been planned for higher education facilities.

The idea was quickly criticized by House Speaker Jay Lucas.

McMaster cited a recent story in The Greenville News in a letter to Lucas Tuesday morning, describing the roads issue as "urgent."

"Understanding that our need for road repair has gone from important to critical to urgent, I believe this should be our top priority for spending," he wrote in a letter to Lucas. "Our state has many important needs in health, education, criminal justice and facilities repair and maintenance, but none are as urgent as the commerce and safety directly linked to our roads."

McMaster had said previously that any increase in the gas tax should be a matter of "last resort" but until Tuesday he had avoided threatening a veto. He wrote Tuesday that if lawmakers used the bond bill to borrow for roads instead of for higher education, it could mean as much as $1 billion more for state infrastructure.

"Revenue from an amended bond bill, added to that of last year's bond bill, can accommodate the critical shortfall we now face and help launch us on the road to recovery," he wrote. "With the alarm bells silent, we can address the serious questions of reform, accountability and long-range planning."

A road-funding plan that passed 97-18 earlier this year in the Republican-majority House would provide almost $600 million more a year for roads when fully implemented through an increase in the gas tax of 10 cents per gallon over five years and the creation or increase of various fees.

“Governor McMaster’s proposal continues the pattern of placing the costs of road repair solely on the South Carolina taxpayer and not on out-of-state motorists who use and deteriorate our crumbling roads," Lucas said in a statement. "Borrowing more money to fix South Carolina’s roads and bridges will not serve as a permanent solution to our infrastructure crisis. The House passed our roads bill with an overwhelming bipartisan and veto proof majority, which protects the South Carolina taxpayer by providing a sustainable funding stream that requires every motorist to pay their fair share.”

Clemson University issued a statement saying the bond bill as designed to aid colleges and universities would provide "important capital funding to higher education institutions seeking to improve critical academic facilities."

"For Clemson, this funding would allow the university to care for, maintain and renovate aging facilities that will allow the university to better meet the needs of its students well into the future," said Mark Land, vice president for university relations

McMaster's letter Tuesday offered the latest wrinkle in an issue that has stymied lawmakers for three years.

State Transportation Secretary Christy Hall has said 54 percent of the state's roads are in poor condition and need rebuilding, at a current price tag of $8 billion.

Critics of efforts to raise the gas tax have questioned how current road dollars are spent, saying they believe the state Department of Transportation has enough money to fix the roads and it should be made a cabinet agency with direct control by the governor before any additional money is sent to it.

Supporters of increased road funding, however, argue that there is ample evidence that the state does not have sufficient resources to pay for decades of deferred maintenance that has left the state's primary roads crumbling.

The News on Sunday reported that South Carolina spends less per state-maintained mile and per capita on roads than almost any other state, according to reviews by separate organizations in recent years.

While about half of DOT's budget was spent directly on road or bridge work over the past decade, most of the remainder was spent on items in support of such work, such as engineering, planning, project management, matching funds, safety projects and administration, The News reported. The agency has tripled its spending over the past decade on pavement, records show. And while about a quarter of the money sent to DOT ends up going to other organizations, most of those funds are related to roads or infrastructure, such as debt service on past projects; money for the State Infrastructure Bank, a separate agency that finances major transportation projects; or funding of county transportation committees, which fund local road projects.

Auditors from the Legislative Audit Council in 2016 reported finding no significant fraud or waste at DOT.

The Senate Finance Committee has amended the House plan with a proposal that would increase the gas tax by 12 cents per gallon over six years and index it for inflation, in addition to creating and increasing various fees. A vote last week to give the bill priority status on the Senate calendar failed after Republicans complained the bill does not address DOT governance reform. Talks are ongoing in a search for a compromise.

Citing a Legislative Audit Council report and a recent story on road conditions and funding by The News, McMaster wrote in his letter that the state has neglected primary roads over the years in favor of work on interstates and local roads.

The governor said he does not believe the solution to the problem requires an increase in taxes or to continue "to accommodate the outdated and unaccountable decision-making processes imposed and abetted by law, policy and politics through the conflicting interactions of the Department of Transportation, the department's commission and the State Infrastructure Bank."

"We could hardly design a more inefficient system," he wrote. "If all the $600 million raised by the current gas tax had been going to roads instead of being diverted to other government functions, we would not need to find more money now."

Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Larry Grooms, a Berkeley County Republican who said he has been discussing a compromise on the roads bill with senators involving tax reform, said McMaster's letter sent senators back to "the drawing board."

He said he did not understand why the governor wants to send $1 billion more in road money to DOT if he finds its management lacking.

"If he has an issue with management over there, then I don't understand why he would want to transfer $1 billion," he said,

Grooms added that bond issues also have a cost. "It's not like it's free money," he said.

"I still maintain we need additional stable sources of revenue," he said. "I believe we need reform measures but we haven't had a chance to govern under the reform measures passed last year."

He said he has heard other senators say the DOT commission should be abolished because the Infrastructure Bank built roads where they should not have, "which makes no sense to me."

Grooms noted that last year the Legislature required Infrastructure Bank projects be approved by the DOT commission, whose members were to be appointed by the governor. Yet, he said, there is a vacancy on the commission which McMaster has not yet filled.

He said no matter how much DOT is reorganized, it "doesn't negate the fact that DOT is an underfunded agency."

Sen. Nikki Setzler, leader of the Senate Democrats, said he had not seen McMaster's letter and would review it.

"I think the people of this state want their roads fixed and I think it needs a recurring source of revenue to do that," he said.

Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, an Orangeburg Democrat and a member of the House budget-writing committee, said people want lawmakers to pass a road-funding bill.

"We've had enough politics on roads," she said. "People need us to just do our jobs, just pass the bill, make a start and get some things done. That's what the voters are looking for. That's what the people of South Carolina have been begging for for several years. Fix our roads."

Rick Todd, the president and CEO of the South Carolina Trucking Association, which has supported a gas tax increase for road improvements, said he was disappointed in the governor's proposal and veto threat.

"I think it's premature," he said of the veto threat.

Todd said the issue is a legislative one, noting that 84 percent of House lawmakers "fell on the sword" for a second year to pass a gas tax increase.

He said McMaster's letter now means the Senate must pass any road-funding bill that includes a gas tax increase by a margin that can withstand a veto.

"The lady Gamecocks killed the chicken curse, but Governor McMaster may have just perpetuated the roads curse," Todd said.

South Carolina's 16.75-cent gas tax is the second-lowest in the nation. It was last raised in 1987.

The bond bill is on the House calendar but it was unclear Tuesday when it would be brought up for debate.